NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch has lost his driver’s licence for 45 days for driving at 128 mph on a public road.
Busch, driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, was caught driving his $400,000 new-model Lexus sports car 83 mph over the speed limit near a day-care centre and church.
Busch was also fined $1000, sentenced to 30 hours of community service and put on one year of unsupervised probation. He pleaded guilty to speeding and no contest to reckless and careless driving in North Carolina District Court in Iredell County.
Busch addressed the court before his sentencing, apologising for driving over the limit.
His licence suspension will not affect his race driving, as NASCAR drivers do not need a road licence to compete.
Busch, currently 10 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson in the Sprint Cup Series, recently scored his fourth win of the year (the most of any driver) at Michigan on Sunday.
With his punishment behind him, he now is looking to move forward with the rest of the year, starting with the IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol this weekend.
“This is closure. That certainly was what we were looking for in this case,” Busch said outside the court.
“We’ve had a lot of people stand behind me and we’ve gone through this is as diligent as we could, as respectful as we could, and that’s why I am here today in person to do it myself and to accept responsibility for my actions.
“Today’s done. We move on to tomorrow and try to go win a truck race at Bristol.”
Busch will do his community service with the teen safe-driving program ‘B.R.A.K.E.S’, which was developed by NHRA drag racer Doug Herbert.
Busch agreed to sponsor 300 students in the program, as well as participate in some of the sessions. He’ll have to do at least 30 hours as part of his sentence.
